Politics

You Can’t Eat Your Words at Gungahlin College Lecture Theatre

SEE-Change are holding a public lecture on food security, and several senate candidates are speaking to voice their positions on the subject.

As someone who relies quite heavily on food, this is of interest to me.

Before the people of the ACT vote at the next election, they can find out for themselves where their local candidates stand on food security by coming along to the Gungahlin College Lecture Theatre on 21st August at 7.00 pm, where you’ll hear from our expert panellists Bishop George Browning, Gabrielle O’Kane, David Pearson and Michael Croft, as well as local senate candidates Simon Sheikh (ACT Greens), Merinda Nash, (ACT Liberals) and Chris Sant (ACT Labor).

When we launched our food security discussion paper earlier this year, we fuelled a conversation that was already spreading in our community. At our event on the 21st you’ll also get to meet representatives from other community groups that are working in this area, including ACTCOSS, Slow Food Canberra, and others.

This fast-paced and informative discussion will be followed by a short question and answer session.

“This year’s campaign is about dealing with the practical realities of food security – SEE-Change has always been about actions rather than words. We’re really pleased to be partnering Fusion Canberra who have a long-held interest in social inclusion, social justice and the importance of building a community that can feed itself”, said SEE-Change Executive Officer Anne Clarke.

If people are wondering what industry Australia should be specialising in after the mining boom, it should be food production, efficient food production systems, and techniques for affordable and sustainable food production in stressed environments and in the face of desertification. We should be pumping money into research and development, seriously reviewing our own open canal irrigation systems, and focusing on integrating food production systems with architecture.

The NBN is a toy compared to this. Governments, and households, have one fundamental priority: food and water security. Without it, everything else collapses.

If people think it’s hard to find an effective but humane way to deal with the refugee situation now, it’s nothing compared to what’s coming.